Young mother killed in crash on Jacksonville's Westside

Kayla Grenon died 400 feet from home where she was living, police say

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – A woman was died Friday night after she was hit by a car in the Duclay area on Jacksonville's Westside, police said.

The Jacksonville Sheriff's Office on Tuesday identified the woman as 25-year-old Kayla Grenon.

Loved ones told News4Jax that Grenon's 8-year-old son is now being cared for by her family.

"That’s the person I feel sorry for the most," said Bobby Willis, Grenon's boyfriend.

Police said the woman was struck by a vehicle on Townsend Road about 10:30 p.m. Friday and died at the scene. Authorities said the driver of the white sedan stopped and was cooperating with police.

The crash occurred about 400 feet from the home where Grenon was living with her boyfriend and her boyfriend's uncle.

Willis recalled the night he learned she was hit and killed on the dark stretch of Townsend Road.

“I was on my way back to my boss’s house," he said. "I was calling and someone picked up the phone and somebody said, 'She got hit.'"

Willis’ uncle, Terry Osteen, said Grenon was walking from a store near his house the night she was killed.

"She was coming back from the Speedway on the corner of Blanding (Boulevard) and Townsend (Road)," Osteen said. "She was heading to my house. We were supposed to pick her up there, but she didn’t get there on time, so she was heading back to my house.”

Willis said Grenon was truly a good person at heart.

“She would give you the shirt off her back," he said. "Even through times of sickness when she was in the hospital, she was always thinking about how she could make someone else smile.”

Willis said Grenon was the victim of a hit-and-run crash on the same road seven months ago. He said he took her to the hospital with minor injuries.

That's why he and Osteen are worried for other people's safety along the stretch of Townsend Road.

“The city has no sidewalks down this road, and they just fly," Osteen said. "It sounds like rockets and bullets sometimes at night, flying through here.”

A GoFundMe page has been set up to help Grenon's family with funeral expenses.